Behind the Scenes on your Forum

What goes on behind-the-scenes on your forum? What kind of private sections do you have? What are some things you do on a regular basis as an administrator?

 

Daily To-do list[Pisoga]:

• Check the suggestion forum
• Check any broken anime
• Check any template/design bugs
• Have staff discussion about upcoming events
• Make come design fixes [Everyday I find something I forgot]
• Watch the chat

Daily To-do list[Setsou Design]

• FINISH SERO!

 

Discussion of activities and policies of the forum, motivational stuff, trying to get the owner to do things :p

We have a section for the moderators/supermoderators and one for the admins.

 

Look for new updates (mods) that would help out the forum now and in the long run
Check the Mod Lounge
Check the feedback forum
Post in the forums

 

behind the scenes....
enter what is known as "mod towers" or go on msn with the other staff (we use our staffroom for anything that the staff must remember, like how to use the admin/mod powers, our policies regarding to how to deal with trolls and spammers, and discussing what we think of members-are they a genuine newbie or the member we just banned yesterday, or votes on decisions about the forum) but the staff go on msn together to discuss things relating to forums as well, or if theres something involving other staff, that we cant say in the staff room, the two admin will discuss that on msn.

as an admin i read the threads and reply to them like a normal member would, but also do any mod stuff that needs doing, like moving threads into the right section, deleting posts, stuff like that. i check the support forum to see if theres any important news, approve new members...

 

we all sit around, smoke cigars, play cards, drink whiskey...wait..no...

 

Install updates,
Let Mods run the site,
Install Updates,
Let Mods run the site,
Install Updates...

You get the rest.

 

1) Review project status (projects range from adding new features, to driving traffic)
2) Review parking lot ideas
3) Develop Content (since the site caters to quality practitioners stuff like articles, downloads etc are very crucial)
4) Add How To tutorials on the blog ..members end up not using features simply because they are not aware of them or dont know how to

 

I contact vendors for my niche and receive products for review. Once i get those products, i then do a detailed installation, review, write up and discussion. Example of it:

Cobb Tuning 3" 07-08 MazdaSpeed3 Street Downpipe Review - Mazdaspeed Forums

When im not doing that, im working on some sort of new mod to benefit my membership. Im lucky because 98% of the content on my site is user created. I do have a few RSS feeds that spark up some discussion from time to time, but most of it is from the users.

Behind the scenes, we have a SLEW of private forums. Since i offer VIP membership from $10 for one year, all the way up to any disclosed amount, i have to double check that the users are placed into that group appropriately. Using the AWJunkies software is hit or miss most of the time, so im constantly babysitting it. My VIP program generates anywhere from $300-$1200 a month depending on the season and memberships for that month. My vendors bring in a good sum of money, so i have a steady income from that side of it.

I do place a lot of time, effort, $$ in upgrades, etc to keep my forum more unique then my competitors. They have the typical stock VBB, or they run IPB or SMF. I by far have the most unique forum for my specific niche.

My VIP forums consist of:

a) porn <------ lots of pervs with cars. Its gets my VIP membership and the porn provided is user content created. I have embedded videos within my system

b) pothead section

c) alcohol section

d) rated r section

e) request section

f) general mayhem outside of the reg forum

g) tuning section for PCM's

and a few other sections off the wall that drive my VIP memberships.

 

It depends on the kind of forum.

MEMBERS:
Learning center based on usergroup.
Puzzles and Round Robins based on profile.
Download/Article content based on subscriptions

STAFF:
Lounge and vent area.
Reporting
Activities / Planning
Pause of the Day

 

On other forums I'm staff at we use staff forums just to chat around with the other staff members or discuss forum contests or update plannings, etc.

On my new project I'm thinking about have the behind the scenes as a general chat but also to help some staff out that are good with what they do, but need some help learning the software again or whatever.